By the Fire
by consultingdetectivepond
Summary: Lily comes to a realisation and decides to act on it. Set in The Marauders' Sixth Year.


Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes as she spotted Potter making his way through the crowd, an air of arrogance surrounding him, stupid smirk plastered across his face and closely followed by his adoring fan club. Her best friend, Alice, merely giggled as she glanced at the source of Lily's annoyance, and shared a meaningful look with Frank, a close friend of James. Lily spun around to face them, hands on hips, green eyes narrowed and sparkling as if on fire.

'Care to share, Alice?'

Alice smirked and replied, 'Well Lily, you spend so much time talking about James, and you're always looking at him... One might say, he's always on your mind. If you're not careful, someone might think you like him.' She finished with a cheeky grin, knowing exactly how the irate redhead would react.

'Excuse me? _Like_ him? He's an arrogant toerag who needs to deflate his head because he's in danger of not fitting through the doors soon.'

Lily glared at the pair of them, annoyance clearly written across her face. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the library.'

She turned on her heel and marched down the corridor, silently fuming. Her, like _James Potter _of all people? It was ridiculous! An outrage! It was- right in front of her, blocking her path. 'Alright, Evans?"

Even his _voice _was smug! He was leaning casually against the wall, with one hand deep in his trouser pocket. He ran his other hand through his hair, further messing it up, then crossed his arms looking as confident as ever.

'What do you want, Potter?'

If looks could kill, Potter would surely be nothing more than a pile of ash on the floor, she thought.

'Oh, nothing in particular, just wanted to see your oh-so-beautiful face, Evans.' He winked.

'Well, I wish I could say the same for you, but sadly not.' She replied scathingly. His grin widened.

'Charming as ever. So, fancy coming to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?'

'Over my dead body, Potter.'

'Ah well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.'

'Yeah, probably following me, you creep.' She said, pushing past him as he laughed at her comment. She refused to look back at him and walked on, still irritated and ignoring the call of 'Bye, Evans! Have a good day!' From somewhere behind her.

She sat at her favourite seat by the window in the library, looking out at the rivulets of water running down the glass. She was shaken out of her reverie by someone sitting across from her.

'Hey, Lily.' It was Remus, her fellow prefect and the only decent one out of those damned Marauders. 'I heard James asked you to Hogsmeade again.'

'If you're going to suggest that I say yes just to shut him up, then you're out f your mind.'

'I would never- well, I'll admit the idea crossed my mind, he's becoming insufferable, raving about how "Evans only insulted me three times in one conversation, she clearly likes me".' He took his potions book out of his bag and opened it at a random page. 'You really need to up your game, Lily, if three times is the worst you've got it'll maybe shut him up more.'

'Sorry Remus, it's just- ugh, he's so infuriating! He thinks he's so good, with his messy hair and his stupid smirk and that snitch he carries around trying to impress people, I mean, Merlin, who does he think he is? Just because his eyes sparkle when he laughs or he's got those dimples when he smiles, or how his hair's got to he so soft-' Lily caught herself before she could go any further, and blushing slightly, cleared her throat. 'I mean, he's got horrible hair and I hate his smile. That's it.'

She looked at Remus and saw that she hadn't fooled him at all. He smirked, he was, after all, a Marauder.

'Just wait till James hears about this,' he said, grinning as Lily's eyes flashed dangerously.

'Remus John Lupin, if you dare speak a word of this to anyone I will hex you into oblivion!'

Remus laughed and packed away his things, getting up to leave. 'Okay Lily, see you later.'

Lily sat where she was for a long time after Remus left, thinking over what had happened. Why had she noticed these things about Ja- Potter? Why did she know that his birthday was March the 27th, and that he wrote to his mother twice a month, and that he liked coffee, not tea, but only with a splash of milk and two sugars? She groaned and put her head in her hands as she realised that despite her protests, he was rather attractive, with all those years as chaser and then captain, and those broad shoulders, and his sexily messed-up hair that she longed to run her hands through- no. This has to stop now. But this year, he'd been better, hadn't he? Yes, he still cornered her at every chance to ask for a date, but actually... He'd only asked twice this year, and it was already near Christmas. But he still pulled stupid pranks all the time, right? But that stupid voice in her mind pointed out that now, he only pulled pranks on people who deserved it. Lily was forced to admit that James Potter had, in fact, grown up.

The portrait to the common room swung open, and Lily stepped into the bustling, noisy room. As she sat in the library, she had come to a very scary, but very true realisation. She was in love with James Potter. She had no idea how or when it had happened, but that the fighting must be "unresolved sexual tension" or some other rubbish, and that there was no escaping this now. She dropped off her bag in her dorm and changed into more comfortable clothes before returning to the common room. She looked around and was secretly pleased (though she'd never admit it) to see that James was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace, staring into the flames. He looked so deep in thought she almost didn't want to disturb him. Almost.

'Hey, Potter. Could I ask you something?' She took a seat across from him, alerting him to her presence. It was now or never.

'Go for it.'

'How did you realise you were in love?' She saw confusing written across his face and hope in his eyes as he froze, shocked by her question. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius, Remus and Peter coming down into the room, stopping when they saw James and Lily having a civil conversation.

'What?' James frowned, leaning forwards in his chair.

'Well, you see, I started to realise that you are in fact, not as bad as I thought.'

'Oh? And how good is "not as bad"?'

"You're still an idiot. A big-headed, arrogant idiot who needs to get rid of the fan club and realise that being so damn persistent could actually be a good thing.' And then she kissed him.

She was vaguely aware of Sirius whooping with joy in the background as she ran her hands through James' hair, which was just as soft as she'd imagined, and heard Sirius shout, 'You did it, Prongsie!' The rest of the common room was shocked into silence, before buzzing with chatter as the two broke apart. James was grinning so widely Lily thought his face might break in half, but she imagined she looked the same. She saw Alice and Frank exchanging money, obviously cashing in bets, but Lily didn't care about the gossip or the stares of the other Gryffindors. All she cared about was the feeling of James' hair in her hands and the sensation of his lips on hers.


End file.
